"He's going to be just as soon as I get him made a hot drink," declared Mammy June.
"Has he got all over being drowned?" Margy demanded.
And even Mun Bun was a good deal troubled because Russ had got so wet. "If you had any candy in your pocket, Russ," the little boy said, "it must be all soft now. It won't be good to eat."
"I didn't have any candy, Mun Bun," Russ told him. Russ was feeling a whole lot better now. Mammy June gave him a nice hot, sweet drink. He didn't mind if it was a little "stingy" too.
"Yo' all come in yere—yo' little w'ite folks," said Mammy June, "and we'll make some 'lasses taffy. I got plenty sorgum 'lasses. We can make it w'ile this catfish boy is getting dry."
She continued to call Russ "the catfish boy" and chuckled over his adventure. But she warned him, when his clothing was dry, that he must be more careful when he was playing about the water.
"An' yo' got to tell yo' mudder and daddy about it," she instructed Russ. "Don't never hide nothin' from 'em."
"Oh, we don't!" Rose broke in. "We always tell Mother and Daddy everything."
"That's what I tell my Philly and Ally and Frane, Junior. Always must tell they parents."
"And get scolded for it," said Phillis rather crossly.